Jobseekers Allowance sanctions – Inclusion London’s views

Inclusion London believes that the sanctions are being implemented in harsh and punitive way, with dire consequences for disabled people.

Posted: 21 January 2015

Inclusion London has responded to the call for views for the inquiry into Jobseekers Allowance sanctions.

Inclusion London believes that the sanctions are being implemented in harsh and punitive way, with dire consequences for disabled people. Sanctions included a cut in benefits as a result disabled people do not have enough money to pay for food and electricity – financial impact can result in a lack of food, electricity and the threat of eviction from their homes. This drives disabled people further away from finding employment. This situation is compounded by employment programmes such as Work Choice which are failing disabled people.

Until appropriate and effective support to help disabled people into sustainable employment we strongly recommended that the heavy handed sanctions are stopped as many disabled people wish to work but are unemployed due to various barriers including discrimination on the part of employers.

At the very minimum we believe all claimants should be given a verbal warning that a sanction will be imposed and then a written warning. This practice would reflect the practice in the work place and improve the communication with claimants and their understanding of the sanctions process.

We support Disability Rights UK’s recommendations in the, ‘Taking Control of Employment Support’ report. We also believe that the majority of recommendations in the Work and Pensions Committee recommendation report, ‘Can the Work Programme work for all user groups? should also be implemented.